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SPOTLIGHT on Stacia Kane: Saturday Seven and a Contest!

Meet Stacia Kane! Stacia answers some questions in a Saturday Seven interview about her latest book, Personal Demons, on writing and more. We’re also having a contest!

**Contest is now closed**

About Personal Demons: “When psychological counselor Megan Chase promises listeners to her new radio call-in show she’ll slay their personal demons, they believe her. So do the personal demons.

Megan doesn’t know she’s the only human alive without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon mob-like “family” lucky enough to gain her allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat not just to the personal demons, but to a soul-sucking Legion of Hell known as The Accuser. The Accuser already has an old score to settle with Megan, and sees this as the perfect time to do it.

But Megan isn’t without allies as she’s plunged back into a world she forgot existed. A member of a competing demon family sees Megan as his ticket to power, and sets about both protecting and seducing her with devilish intensity.

Can Megan, her new demon lover, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons named Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud defeat not only The Accuser, the personal demons, and the ghosts of Megan’s past, but the reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career as well?”

UFL: Please tell us a little about the book Personal Demons and protagonist, Megan Chase.

Stacia: I wanted to do something a little different with Megan, and write a heroine in our everyday world, who isn’t super-tough physically and doesn’t hunt or kill anything for a living. 🙂 I love characters like those, but I have a hard time writing them. And I wanted it to be funny, or at least somewhat light-hearted in places. Basically–although I’m not claiming I don’t have anything like the skill of these people–I wanted something like Buffy or even the Indiana Jones movies, where there’s real danger and it can get quite scary, but there’s also a sense of levity and fun, that life goes on even in crises and we have to go on with it. And I’ve always loved the idea of secret worlds coexisting with our own. So when Megan discovers demons are real it’s scary, but at the same time she can’t help being fascinated.

UFL: What is it about romance that keeps you coming back to writing it?

Stacia: Well, who doesn’t like a happy ending? 🙂 Actually, I think it’s in part that how we behave in our romantic relationships, and how we see those relationships, shows so much about us as people. Falling in love is one of the most basic human experiences and one of the most basic drives; there’s a whole range of emotion there to play with. Plus I like writing sex scenes.

UFL: If you weren’t a writer, what would be your dream job?

Stacia: Oooh. I’d love to be a carpenter or something where I made things with my hands. I’m so envious of people who have that kind of skill.

UFL: What/Who are some of your inspirations?

Stacia: Hmm. I always have such a hard time with this question, because just about everything is inspiring, isn’t it? The whole world is inspiring–even the less appealing parts of it or people in it can teach you something or show you something.

UFL: Have you incorporated real life situations or people into your writing?

Stacia: Yes, but only in the tiniest ways. Places I’ve been, maybe, or shades of people I’ve known–nothing too much, but if I know someone with an interesting hobby or something I might use that. But never characters wholesale. I might also slip one of my memories into a character’s memory–I can’t actually think of a specific example now, but I know I’ve done that. Oh, and food. The steak pie Megan makes in Personal Demons is my own recipe. She–and most of my heroines, actually–have the same sorts of tastes I do in food. It’s a tiny thing, but it’s fun for me to slip that in there.

Stacia: Hmm. I like protagonists with powers, but I like them to be limitied. It’s no fun to watch someone fight if there’s no way they can lose–that’s why Batman is so much more interesting than Superman (well, okay, one of the reasons. I am such a sick Batman fangirl I can’t even do a regular interview without slipping him in there somehow, lol.) I like giving characters powers then putting them in situations where those powers are useless–Megan’s psychic abilities give her a huge edge when dealing with humans, for example, but she can’t “read” demons, so that’s no help at all to her in dealing with them.

UFL: Can you tell us what other projects you have in the works?

Stacia: I’m currently working on the second urban fantasy in a new series. I just got an agent for the first book, Unholy Ghosts. It’s a very dark story, and was hugely fun and exciting to write. The second one is, I think, even scarier–I had to stop writing last night because I knew I’d be going to bed soon and I was getting too creeped out to sleep. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that to myself. I’ll hopefully be focusing on that series for the next few months, and this summer I’ll start the third Megan Chase book–the second has been completed for a while and is scheduled to be released in January 2009. Beyond that who knows?

Want to win a copy of Personal Demons? Leave a comment to this post before Friday, April 18 at midnight EST. I’ll enter you into a drawing and pick two lucky winners. First place will get a copy of Personal Demons signed by the author and a Personal Demons wristband bracelet. The second place winner will get a Therapist in a Box Minikit and a couple of the Personal Demons wristband bracelets! Good luck!

Thank you Stacia! You can find out more about Stacia, who also writes as December Quinn, at the following sites:

I just wanted to reply to Amberkatze. The problem isn’t your supplier; it’s that there’ve been a few small delays which snowballed a bit. 🙂 The book should be in stores and shipping from Amazon (and all other online outlets) in the next couple of weeks, though, or you can buy direct from the publisher and get it now. I apologize to everyone for the delay.

Hello, First, I love the names of the demons! Just the little excerpt about the world that the main character, Megan, lives in sounds fascinating. I am a recent Sci-Fi reader and would enjoy reading this author’s book. Please enter me in your drawing. Many thanks,Cindi

I’m sure looking forward to reading this book! It really appeals to me that Megan isn’t super-tough, and that she has powers but they are limited. I like a good kick-ass heroine, but it’s also a nice change to have someone a little easier to relate to for a change!

Urban Fantasy Land was established in 2008

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Guide to Review Ratings

A Reviews - Loved it! Would buy it in hardcover!
B Reviews - Liked it. Might even check out more by the author or the next in the series.
C Reviews - Either this book needs a substantial makeover, or I'm really not the right audience for it.
DNF - Did Not Finish